"Glorified tech demo"

swaaye on 5/9/2009 at 02:54

Quote Posted by gunsmoke

Trespasser was experimental, not a GTD. I mean, it tried new things in gameplay, but what TECH was it supposedly showing off?

I don't think it was hyped much differently than Crysis or other super tech-breakthru titles (HL2 for that matter). Previews went on endlessly about the physics it simulated. This has to be the first game that tried to simulate real world physics to such an extent. The AI was hyped too but ended up horrible. Essentially it was one of those "emergent gameplay" PR dealies. And how it would look totally amazing, "showcased" by really HQ renders suggested to be screenshots, but ended up ugly and super dooper demanding. Most of the game systems turned out to be wrecks.

Here's a preview from good 'ol Next Generation magazine that someone posted over at the TresCom forums years back. They were still on the forum over there.
(http://www.imagebam.com/image/a0913347809107/)

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http://thumbnails14.imagebam.com/4781/a0913347809107.gif(http://www.imagebam.com/image/9bed2047809134/)

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http://thumbnails17.imagebam.com/4781/9bed2047809134.gif(http://www.imagebam.com/image/906fb447809155/)

Inline Image:

http://thumbnails15.imagebam.com/4781/906fb447809155.gif(http://www.imagebam.com/image/4e52e447809162/)

Inline Image:

http://thumbnails17.imagebam.com/4781/4e52e447809162.gif(http://www.imagebam.com/image/43ad8f47809170/)

Inline Image:

http://thumbnails18.imagebam.com/4781/43ad8f47809170.gif

Maybe I am too hard on the game. It is kinda impressive in some ways and definitely experimental. It was essentially a FarCry style environment made 6 years before FarCry. It might have even influenced Crytek as (http://www.nvidia.com/object/dinoisle.html) their early demos had dinos.

I actually think the "hand" was an interesting concept. It was too hard to manipulate with a keyboard/mouse though. The Wii could make that work.

Thirith on 5/9/2009 at 11:48

@swaaye: a glorified tech demo needs to be *good* at showing off the tech. It needs to be a *showcase*, something that makes other people licence the engine. Trespasser doesn't fit this at all - everyone talks about how buggy it was. Added to which, a GTD by definition wouldn't try to be innovative in terms of gameplay; again, this is something that Trespasser tried. You mention yourself that the game was experimental - which is exactly what a GTD *wouldn't* be.

gunsmoke on 5/9/2009 at 12:04

Oddly enough, FarCry isn't listed. The game that started as a tech demo (much like Serious Sam) for the CryEngine, and turned into a game.

swaaye on 5/9/2009 at 21:18

Quote Posted by Thirith

I know. But their plans weren't for it to suck. They did try to make a technological showcase. :)

I actually remember the game more for its hype than anything else. I read several magazine previews for it back in the day. Then I competely forgot about it, probably partly because nobody was talking about it and that there were so many other, better games in '98/'99. I didn't even try the game out until around '06.

gunsmoke called it experimental, and that makes sense so I called it that too.

ZylonBane on 5/9/2009 at 21:48

I remember Trespasser for one of the best Usenet game reviews ever-- (http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action/msg/ba83e83dffb4ef3e?hl=en&) Hovertits.